“Elizabeth Warren would be at the top of my list. I think she would be a great candidate. I think Sherrod Brown would be a great candidate,” said Mike Lux, a Democratic strategist who served in Bill Clinton’s White House and on Obama’s transition team.

“We don’t have very many governors left, honestly,” he said when asked if any state leaders are in the upper echelons of potential presidential hopefuls. “So, no.”

“I’m sure there are some, but they aren’t at the top of my radar screen,” he added.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (N.Y.), who was once seen as a promising White House candidate, has seen his stock plunge recently because of federal bribery charges filed against two former advisers and several other people in his administration.

Governors have been a source of successful presidential picks for both parties, while presidential candidates from the Senate have found it difficult to win national races.

Governors can tout their executive leadership and their experience balancing budgets. Senators have to defend tough votes, often on procedural issues that can be murky.

President Obama was the first sitting senator to be elected president since Sen. John Kennedy in 1960. In contrast, the two Democratic presidents preceding Obama were both governors: Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Recent candidates who ran for president from the Senate and failed include 2008 GOP nominee John McCain (Ariz.), 2004 Democratic nominee John Kerry (Mass.) and 1996 GOP nominee Bob Dole (Kan.).

Those who say a successful Democratic candidate could emerge from the Senate note that senators will be on the front lines in high-profile battles with the Trump administration.

Warren and Gillibrand already have stepped up in recent days to rally Democratic colleagues to oppose controversial Cabinet picks by President-elect Donald Trump.

Warren last month demanded that Trump withdraw his nomination of Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to serve as attorney general. She urged fellow senators not to “compromise with racism,” alluding to comments Sessions allegedly made decades ago.

She also exhorted fellow Democrats not to “roll over” and accept what she called special-interest giveaways to drug companies in the 21st Century Cures bill, which passed the Senate this week. It was seen as a dress rehearsal for the bigger policy fights of next year.

Gillibrand mobilized her colleagues to take a tougher stand against Republican efforts to lower the threshold for confirming Gen. James Mattis to serve as secretary of Defense. She argued that giving Mattis a special waiver to avoid the rule prohibiting Defense secretaries who have been retired from the military for less than seven years might undermine civilian oversight of the Pentagon.

A Democratic aide said there was little Democratic criticism of the proposed waiver before Gillibrand spoke up.

But while some Democrats are jockeying to play leading roles opposing Trump next year and others are chatting privately about who might emerge as the eventual nominee, lawmakers are loath to discuss it publicly, a reflection of the deep uncertainty about the future of the party.

Many Democrats are exhausted in the wake of this year’s grueling and acrimonious election, which ended, from their point of view, with the shock election of Trump.

“It’s way too soon for that kind of speculation. We haven’t even sworn in the next president,” said Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.).

A constellation of Democratic leaders appear ready to move on from the spotlight.

President Obama is leaving office, and first lady Michelle Obama has expressed no interest in entering politics despite pleas from some Democrats.

While 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton won the popular vote over Trump, her political career seems over.

Vice President Biden, 74, sparked a round of media chatter earlier this week when he told reporters Monday that he would run for the White House in 2020. He appeared to be joking.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, who finished second to Clinton in the primary, is an independent from Vermont and not a Democrat. He would be 79 in 2020.

Democratic lawmakers and strategists say talk of a party with a leadership vacuum at the top has failed to recognize what they say is a deep pool of young talent in the Senate.

“I think it’s time for a new generation of leaders to emerge. There are a number of my colleagues in the Senate who have great progressive credentials and the ability to appeal to millennials,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).

“I feel very strongly if we want to inspire young people to be part of the winning Democratic coalition, you need to present them with some new talent and new leadership,” he added.

Warren, 67, is a relative newcomer to national politics who won her Senate seat in 2012. Several of her colleagues with White House buzz are in their 40s or early 50s.